


Meeting by accident

by Beciz



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 11:23:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18659449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beciz/pseuds/Beciz
Summary: First time posting anything, so let me know what you think? Whether or not it is worth continuing :)





	Meeting by accident

As Gold started to wake up, the first thing he felt was the familiar dull throbbing ache in his head from too much whiskey. He lifted his hand and ran it across his face only to let out a small groan of discomfort as he felt a sharp pain from his forehead. The painful area was covered with something and Gold ran his fingers over it, having no recollection of how he had been hurt.

 

"I would leave the band-aid on" said an unfamiliar voice. Gold's eyes snapped open and only now realized that he was not in his own home. He was lying on a bed in a small dark cluttered bedroom, where every inch was cramped with furniture, books and clothes in a way that suggests the inhabitant lives on very few square meters.

 

"I cleaned your wound, but I would probably have a doctor take a look at it if I were you". Gold followed the sound of the voice and only now noticed a woman sitting by a desk across the room with a book in her hand as if he had just interrupted her reading. Gold only grunted as a reponse and tried to make out the woman's features in the dark. She was young about mid twenties with long auburn hair. He remembered seeing her in town, and though his mind was a bit hazy he was pretty sure that she was one of his many tenants.

 

"I know" she continued " _No doctors_. You said that about twenty times last night".

 

Finally mustering up the ability to speak Gold asked the first thing that came to mind: "Where am I?".

 

The woman raised her eyebrows at him "My apartment. You should recognize it, since you own it. But then again, you did get quite a bump on the head, so maybe I should not be surprised."

 

"Well..." he retorted "The apartments are usually not this messy when I let them out."

 

She let out a small laugh "Count on you to start criticizing people when they try to help you. But I suppose that is a good sign - it means that there is probably no serious damage. Good thing too. People might think that I killed you in order to get out of paying the rent."

 

"Obviously not killed" Gold replied "So what did you do? Kidnap me and hit me in the head with a shovel?". The memories of last night were still not quite coming back to him. He remembered drinking in the local bar The Rabbit Hole. It had been a bad day, and he needed it make it go away - or at least numb it down as much as possible.

 

The woman stood up, putting her book down on the table "YOU crashed your car into a lamppost on the docks. You know, it's quite dangerous driving around in that condition especially by the docks. If you hadn't hit the lamppost, you would have driven directly into the water."

 

Small flashes of memory were slowly returning and he put his arm across his eyes. He had really fucked up this time. He could have hit someone or killed himself and by all measurements he had been lucky. But he had still shown weakness and exposed himself. He knew that rumors of this would run wild in the small town, of how he had to be helped by a random stranger. Gold did not need help, others needed his help and his favors. That is how he kept his power and influence over the town. They needed to fear him. See him as an untouchable entity, or else his reign would crumple.

 

Suddenly the woman's kindness felt like a betrayal. As of this moment, she was now the biggest danger to him, and he needed to keep her in check. He owned her apartment and that gave him some leverage, but he needed more in order to have her under his control. He tried to scan his brain for any information about the girl that could be useful, but his mind was working slowly and thinking felt like threading through knee deep mud.

 

He heard the woman exiting the room and into what the vaguely remembered to be a kitchen. First step to dwarf her, was to get out of the bed. His stomach rolled and his head was pounding hard, but he managed to get into a sitting position. He found his shoes by the side of the bed and slowly he began putting them on, while his body protested him directing his head downwards. The more problematic issue was standing up. He usually walked with a cane due to an injured leg but it was nowhere to be seen. Laying his weight on his good leg he managed to get up, but he had to lean on the furniture in order to limp his way into the kitchen. So far he was not quite his old intimidating self, but he decided that it was an improvement.

 

By the look of it she was making tea.

 

"My cane" he said.

 

"Yeah, it's in the hallway, I'll get it for you." she quickly went and collected it "I can call you a cab can get home. I don't have a car, otherwise I could have given you a lift."

 

Gold contemplated his options. Being picked up by a cab at a young woman's house early in the morning while smelling like a liquor cabinet was not exactly something he wanted to his name. But on the other hand, it was a long walk with his bad leg.

 

"No, that is all right, I will figure it out."

 

"Do you want a cup of tea?" she asked.

 

"I should really be going" Gold walked to the front door and she followed, handing him his suit jacket from the coat stand.

Standing by the door, he turned around to her "I want to thank you for your assistance in this matter. I also want to make it quite clear that if you tell a single soul about this, I will triple your rent and make sure no one else will let out a place for you in a 100 kilometer radius."

 

The woman crossed her arms, looking a little amused "Really" she said "Threats. That's what I get for dragging your ass out of a broken down car in the middle of the night, giving you my bed and staying up to make sure you don't choke on your own vomit, because you hit your head and probably gave yourself a concussion? I could have left you, and be sure, many people in this town would have. And this is your response to someone showing you kindness?"

 

Gold stared her down. He almost felt bad. She had shown an enormous amount of compassion towards him and she was right that many in this town happily would have left him to die. And then there was the matter of how big, blue and beautiful her eyes were, now that he could actually see her in the low light of the hallway. He would not let her ruin his reputation, he told himself. "You will keep quiet, or suffer the consequences."

 

She met his eyes unblinking "We'll see about that"

 

Gold walked out of the apartment building, both impressed and distraught about her defiance. It was quite clear that he would have to get some more leverage on her, whoever she was. He walked a few blocks away from her apartment before calling a cab, but for the entire ride home, all he could see was those blue eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First time posting anything, so let me know what you think? Whether or not it is worth continuing :)


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